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Following is a question by the Hon Tam Yiu-chung and a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mrs Regina Ip, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

Regarding the problem of objects being thrown from a height, will the Government inform this Council of:

(a) the total number of cases handled involving the throwing of objects from a height in the past three years, the casualties involved and the number of cases in which the alleged offenders were convicted and, among the cases handled, the number of those which took place within the bounds of public housing estates, the casualties involved and the number of cases in which alleged offenders were convicted; and

(b) the measures in place to prevent the throwing of objects from a height, and whether it has assessed the effectiveness of the current measure of installing videotaping systems in public housing estates as an aid to apprehending such offenders?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) The total number of cases reported to the Police involving objects dropped from a height from 1996 - 1998 is 1,410, with 62 of them occurring in public housing estates.

The number of casualties involved in these reported cases is 755. One victim was killed last year. 88 were injured and required hospitalisation, while the remaining 666 were slightly injured.

196 offenders involved in the reported cases were convicted of the offence "objects dropped from buildings" under section 4B of the Summary Offences Ordinance. The Police do not have a breakdown of the number of casualties and offenders who were involved in cases which occurred in public housing estates.

(b) The Administration has taken the following measures to prevent throwing objects from a height:

(i) The Police liaise closely with Housing Department and have stepped up patrols in districts or public housing estates where there are relatively more frequent incidents of falling objects;

(ii) The Police Public Relations Branch has organised publicity programmes on the consequences of throwing objects from a height and the need for prevention. These include distributing educational leaflets; conducting clearance operations in public housing estates to remove objects prone to falling from a height and visits to construction sites. It has also publicised the message through the Police TV programme "Police Magazine";

(iii) The Information Services Department has produced both television and radio Announcements in Public Interest to educate the public against dropping objects from a height;

(iv) The Housing Department has installed the Falling Object Monitoring System on a rotational basis in 39 public housing estates to detect offenders committing such irresponsible act;

(v) The Housing Department has also provided protection to pedestrians by constructing covered walkways in 125 public housing estates linking domestic blocks to bus terminals, schools and commercial centres; and

(vi) Residents of public housing estates are frequently reminded through various means, such as notices, estate newsletters and meetings of Estate Management Advisory Committee and Mutual Aid Committee that dropping objects from a height will endanger the safety of the public and that offenders are liable to criminal prosecution.

As regards the effectiveness of the Falling Object Monitoring System, we believe that the system has achieved some useful deterring effect. Records of the Housing Department show that the number of complaints relating to falling objects from a height received decreased significantly by about 43% in the second quarter of 1999 in estates where such a system has been installed, when compared to the preceding quarter. The Housing Department will continue to monitor closely if any further improvement work needs to be done.

End/November 3, 1999

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